Single units in the region of the medial nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS), responding to electrical stimulation of gastric vagal fibers, were recorded in an in vitro neonatal rat brainstem-gastric preparation. gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) subreceptor agonists and antagonists were applied to the gastric and brainstem compartments of the bath chamber to evaluate the peripheral gastric and centr...

In the absence of GABA, neuroactive steroids that enhance GABA-mediated currents modulate binding of [35S]t-butylbicyclophosphorothionate in a biphasic manner, with enhancement of binding at low concentrations (site NS1) and inhibition at higher concentrations (site NS2). In the current study, compound (3alpha,5beta,17beta)-3-hydroxy-18-norandrostane-17-carbonitrile (3alpha5beta-18-norACN), an ...

UNLABELLED The ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG) is a key structure in the descending pain modulatory circuit. Activation of the circuit occurs via disinhibition of GABAergic inputs onto vlPAG output neurons. In these studies, we tested the hypothesis that GABAergic inhibition is increased during persistent inflammation, dampening activation of the descending circuit from the vlPAG. Our...

A novel type of GABA receptor is present on rod-driven (H4) horizontal cells of the white perch retina (Qian and Dowling, 1993a). These receptors have been tentatively termed GA-BAC receptors. In this study, the pharmacological properties of these receptors were further investigated by applying several conformationally restricted GABAA receptor agonists, GABAA antagonists, and a GABAB agonist t...

Objective(s) In this study we investigated the expression of GABAA receptor subunits during brain development. These receptors may change in the embryonic chick forebrain. Materials and Methodes The expression levels of four types of GABAA receptor gamma subunits (γ1, γ2, γ3 and γ4) were quantified in the embryonic chick forebrain at 32 hr, 3, 7, 14, and 20 days of incubation and day one aft...

background: in this study, the effects of three structural analogues of adenosine upon proliferation of human tumor cells were investigated. previous research showed a cytotoxic effect of adenosine via a3 receptor and a1 receptor and sometimes this effect was receptor independent. the researches showed a differential cytotoxic effect of adenosine and its a3 agonists on cancerous cells, while ot...

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Objective(s):Painful diabetic neuropathy is associated with hyperexcitability and hyperactivity of spinal cord neurons. However, its underlying pathophysiological mechanisms have not been fully clarified. Induction of excitatory/inhibitory neurotransmission imbalance at the spinal cord seems to account for the abnormal neuronal activity in diabetes. Protective properties of neurosteroids have b...

In this study, the influence of dopamine receptor agonists and antagonists on antinociception induced by bac10fen has been examined in the formalin test. The GABA-B agonist bac10fen induced antinociception in both phases of the formalin test in mice. The dopamine receptor agonists SKF 38393 and quinpirole also induced antinociception in both phases of the test. SKF 38393 but not quinpirole ...

Synaptic clustering of GABAA receptors is important for the function of inhibitory synapses, influencing synapse strength and, consequently, the balance of excitation and inhibition in the brain. Presynaptic terminals are known to induce GABAA receptor clustering during synaptogenesis, but the mechanisms of cluster formation and maintenance are not known. To study how presynaptic neurons direct...